Explorers of the Land of Akavir
by Kobell
Summary: Aslyan, Dovahkiin, has been seeking for adventure since he defeated Alduin, many years ago. When he is presented with the opportunity to go on an exploration ship heading to Akavir, a dangerous continent of which very little is known about, he decides to accept. This is his journey.
1. Arrival

**Hello guys! I am not a native English speaker, so please bear with me. This might not be the best English, but it is all I can offer. I promise my writing skills will get better in time... Enjoy and review!**

* * *

Aslyan was lying down on his bunk when he heard the loud noise of bells ringing from outside. He raised his head, taking a few moments to react, as well as the other people that were in the room with him. He finally stood up. They were calling them to come up, and there was only one reason for them to do that. "Perhaps…"

Without talking, they all started moving quickly out of the room and up the stairs. "Could it be?" he thought, with a glint of excitement. Other members of the crew that were also taken by surprise were swiftly coming up; creating a big crowd of people that started growing on the surface of the boat. People were feeling the same as Aslyan, because he could hear voices saying "Is it for real this time?", "Are we really there?"

The bells stopped ringing and were followed by the thundering sound of a horn that established silence in the place.

"Crewmembers!" called the captain, as he made an appearance on the balcony on top of them, showing a big smile on his face "The reason that im calling you up here is very important" he made a big pause adding suspense. At this point most of the people on the boat knew what he was about to say, but still, nobody was quite sure. Tension built up as the captain took a deep breath "I'm proud to tell you that we have finally arrived."

Almost instantly, a loud cheer could be heard all over the boat. Everyone started laughing and celebrating. Aslyan looked over and saw the barely visible patch of land miles ahead of them, no longer an infinite ocean. He also cheered up. It had been a long time.

"Gather your stuff, people. We will disembark in a couple of hours. We'll be setting up camp by dusk"

Everybody started going to their rooms, leaving only Aslyan and a few others. For him, it was a lot to take in. He had been seeking adventure for far longer than he could remember, ever since he had defeated Alduin. But they were finally here, after more than a year travelling, they had finally arrived to their destination. They had set sail from Winterhold, in First Seed, and now, Sun's Height and a year later, himself and all the crew would be able to set foot on the very different continent, Akavir, of which very little was known about.

He looked around, over the edge of the boat. On both sides of his ship, two other were also carrying about three dozens of people each. It was quite an expedition, and from now on, everything would be an adventure to all of them. A warm breeze of air blew back his long hair. No more sea storms, no more fish. This was a totally new world. And after months and months, he was happy.

* * *

Aslyan grabbed his large bag and put it behind his back. Looking at the bunker he laid on every night, he realized he was going to miss the place. The armor that had been given to him now looked old and stale, but either way he put it on. He grabbed his oil lamp and the book he had been reading lately, "Report: Disaster on Ionith". After having a last look at the bed, he left the room.

They had been told Akavir was enormous. They had arrived in the corner of the Tsaesci territory, which was known to be unpopulated. At first glance, the terrain that continued just after the beach formed slight hills, covered with flashing green fields of grass. Very little trees could be seen, dispersed around randomly, and besides that there was nothing much to be seen.

A group of corpulent crewmembers carried the three ships over to the sand and placed platforms for people to come down with. The ship started to empty, and Aslyan was one of the last ones to get out.

Akavir's beach was difficult to walk on with all of his belongings on his back. Big and small tents were quickly being set at the shore and he knew the longer time he took to set in, the worst places would be left to put his tent on. Aslyan managed to fit his tiny tent between some others near the dining hall. This was all that he needed.

Night set in the blink of an eye. Once again, they were served fish, and Aslyan hated it, but he knew this was the last time.

While trying to eat a cold and dry piece of meat, next to a celebratory half glass of wine, Aslyan started talking to people near him from other boats, which he hadn't met before. There was one man called Dhargos who had been laughing all night. He looked like an old man, white beard and hair, although the way he moved made Aslyan think he was the same age as everyone else.

There was a sound of a man playing a lyre, creating classical songs that Aslyan had not heard in a while.

"So, it looks like we are finally free!"

"Yeah, free of our women!"

Everyone at the table laughed. Aslyan smiled and took a sip of his wine. Old and cheap, just like he expected.

"Actually, to make a little confession here, I'm a little afraid of what's about to happen" confessed a fat man that had been struggling to cut the fish on his plate.

"What do you mean, pal?

"I mean that it's quite frightening to think that we are in a place we know practically nothing about"

"Oh, don't be a little Elf about it" Dhargos laughed "Look at the size of our crew, damn it!"

"I've heard that an entire army of Akaviris attacked Tamriel"

"You are right, but they lost"

Aslyan saw the moment to jump into the conversation "And one time, long ago, King Uriel the Fifth sent himself and a large group of invaders to the lands of Akavir" he stopped talking, and once he got sure he had everyone's attention, he continued "The invasion failed and Uriel died with his crew in the Battle of Ionith"

Almost everyone felt silent for a second. Dhargos turned his head to him.

"Where did you come up with this stuff?"

"I read it on a book. In fact, there have been many expeditions to this continent, none of them successful."

Dhargos just looked at him, chewing the fish with his mouth open.

"What's your name, son?"

"Aslyan, of Riften."

"Aslyan? Hmm… That name sounds familiar"

"Perhaps you know me already." Aslyan knew what the man was about to say.

"Are you… by any chance, Dragonborn?

Ah, that name. He hadn't been called that way since a long time ago. Suddenly he felt like everyone was watching him. At first he did not want to answer, but he realized it would be stupid.

"I am Dragonborn, indeed"

He saw a glance of doubt in his face. Silence covered the table.

"Are you really?"

"After I defeated Alduin everyone seemed to forget about me, but I am the one, yes."

"I believe you, friend." His expression changed "And what in the hells are you doing here, exploring the dangerous lands of Akavir?"

Aslyan thought about the question.

"I wanted to do something nobody had done before." Thinking again, he changed his mind. "To be honest, I don't even know why I came."

A big laugh covered the awkward silence.

The night continued, and it was long. Aslyan secretly enjoyed being recognized again as the man he really was and the power that he had. Once again, he was happy. He was, after all, Dragonborn.


	2. Exploration

The sound of horns woke almost everybody up. Aslyan had a difficult time getting his eyes open. He had barely slept, but his stomach was begging for food. He got dressed and came out, realizing what a beautiful day It was. The sun was shining bright on the east, giving him a good mood. Today is going to be a great day, he thought. After closing his tent and making sure his belongings were protected, he joined the group heading to the main eating place. Dhargos wasn't with them. According to a friend of his, he had stayed asleep in his tent. "He had too much alcohol last night, who knows who gave half a bottle to him." he said "Be sure of it, it is going to be like this every single night"

They were served brad and ale, and Aslyan ate thoroughly. He knew he had to keep his forces high, because they were going to walk all day. When most of them were finished, the captain showed up, holding a large folded map oh his hands.

"People of Tamriel! Have a good morning, and may the Gods bless you all. I want you to listen." he made sure he had everyone's attention. Then, he continued "It took a while to get here, didn't it? Well, I want you to know that time in a journey like this is not something to be complaining about, because you will have plenty of it. Our time here depends on what shows up behind those mountains, and I assure you, it's not going to be fun. We will probably stay for two years, maybe more, so you better love this place. Whatever we encounter out there, keep in mind that we are not coming to say hello and shake hands. We are in hostile territory, my friends. We are here to find out more about this continent and, if necessary, to invade the Akaviri. From now on, you will no longer be called crew. You will be called warriors." a glimpse of excitement blasted in his eyes He was notably eager to explore this unknown people. He unfolded the map and with the help of a couple of guards he extended it on a wall, showing the known territory of Akavir. Aslyan was close to him so he managed to see most of the details that the map showed. In all of his books, he had seen many maps of Akavir and they were all different. This was no exception, but there was something they all had in common; it was divided into four territories: the Tsaesci Empire, which took most part of the continent, the Ka'Po'Tum, the Kamal, a snowy territory in the north, and the Tang Mo's Thousand Isles. Everyone took a moment to analyze the map. "Our forces are too big to be running together, so that's why we need to divide into smaller teams. Each one of them will have a dozen soldiers, one cartographer, a cook and an alchemist, in case anything goes wrong. This will be our main base for now, but not for long. Once our surroundings are established, we will disperse and start exploring the lands."

Everyone agreed with the plan. Aslyan was put with a group that surprisingly enough had Dhargos in it.

* * *

Later that day, when the sun rose up high in the sky, they left the base and started the exploration of the surrounding area. The ships had landed in a place they called Vardos, which was a few miles apart from where Ionith, the city where the invasion failed centuries ago, had last been located. Aslyan's group was assigned to head a couple of miles northeast, and was told that they could not, by any circumstance, be seen by the natives.

The small team walked for a couple of hours, only finding plains and tiny hills. While on it, Aslyan and Dhargos spent all day talking When they were far away from the others, Aslyan talked about the old adventure he had when he was young, the time when the dragons made an appearance once again on the world, how he had escaped and how he'd discovered he was a Dovahkiin. It was a long journey.

"We should be heading back on less than an hour. The sun's coming down." advised Senira, one of the few women that had been sent to the journey. She was a mid-aged, tall and very pretty woman. Aslyan had seen her capacity to fight before she had gotten in the ship, and he knew how good she was with the blade in hand.

"You are right, after all, all we see is fucking grass" spat Dhargos.

They kept walking in silence. Minutes later, Dhargos and Aslyan stood meters behind their team.

"She is quite beautiful, isn't she?" said Aslyan staring at the female warrior. Dhargos turned his head down.

"Yes, I guess she is."

Aslyan realized the attitude he had and asked "I suppose you have a family?"

"I do, a wife and a lovely daughter." He showed a slight smile on his face, but then it was rapidly erased "We were short in gold, so I needed to take the opportunity of going on this trip. I was given the money and…" he sighed "Well, I hope they are not missing me back there, because I'm going to be in this place for a long time."

Aslyan nodded. It was all he could do.

"What about you, son? I bet killing a dragon gets the attention of a lot of ladies"

He smiled.

"I've become rusty and powerless"

"Didn't you say you could still shout?"

"I don't know if I can. I haven't tried in so much… I don't even know if I remember dragon language"

"I'm sure you do remember. When the right time comes, I'm sure you will know how to use it."

Aslyan kept his words in mind the rest of the journey.

They found no animals or living creature, nor any signs of any build structure. They finally took the decision to go back.

But, on the way back, they did see something. Senira was the first one to see it, and it was behind a large area full of trees.

"Stop!" she raised her hand, signaling the others to follow her. "Look, over that hill."

They all saw it. A tall line of smoke coming out behind the trees. They all walked closer, expecting to see a house in the middle of a clearing, but instead, they saw a whole group of square, short houses, about a dozen of them. They were built out of stone, and they seemed a bit small for a human to live in.

"I didn't know Dwemers still existed."

"They aren't dwarf houses, they are Tsaesci houses."

"Tsaesci?"

That was the time when Aslyan realized how little they knew about the dangers that existed in Akavir.

"Immortal Serpent-men. They are supposed to be the most powerful empire in Akavir. There are legends that say that they devoured all the humans that were in the continent"

"Immortal?"

"Yes, and vampiric too"

"Vampiric?" Dhargos was notably frightened. The others were also horrified, axcept Senira. She seemed to know all this kind of stuff.

"There is one!" exclaimed Senira with a low voice.

They all could see the Tsaesci serpent moving rapidly in the dirt. It had a short height but it was very long. Its arms were as big as a human's and its face was stretched. Sharp teeth and a long tongue came out of the mouth, completely frightening. It was carrying a bunch of wood to its house.

"We need to go." said one of the warriors in the team, and stood up.

"Wait!"

As soon as he stretched, the leaves beneath his feet made a loud crunching sound. The serpent-man immediately turned its head to the direction they were. They all hid, and the warrior dropped to the floor as quick as an arrow, hiding his body as well. The Tsaescii had not seen them, but it left the logs on the ground and started heading to the direction of the sound. Senira signaled them to follow her, and quietly moved sideways, into another group of trees. The serpent was being cautious and was slow in its movement, so they all managed to move away. The Tsaescii stood around where they had been and looked around, hissing its tongue like a real snake. It could not see them. A minute later, which felt like an eternity to the warriors, the serpent backed away, gathering the logs once again and carrying them over to the house.

They all sighed. Being that close to a completely different being was strange, and their lives were at the edge by a stupid mistake.

"Alright, now we need to go" Aslyan said as he saw a couple of Tsaecsii showing up behind another house.

As fast as they could, they ran away. The further, the better. Coming back home was exhausting, especially since it was turning night, but they managed to do it before the moon showed up.

What a relief it was to be back home, secure and safe from any dangers.

They reported the group of houses and its location to the captain, without mentioning the incident they had created. He took note of it and they went back to their tents.

That night, Aslyan didn't eat. He was instead reading about the creatures of Akavir, and the old battles with them. He didn't sleep. He couldn't.


	3. Invasion

**Hey, guys! I'm loving the way you are reacting to my story! Also, please, PLEASE, write reviews and everything, either if it is constructive or just a simple comment, IT REALLY HELPS! Thank you, enjoy Chapter 3!**

* * *

The ship crew repeated the process of exploring the nearby areas for about three more weeks. Aslyan and his group found nothing interesting, but they still kept spying on the Tsaesci houses they had seen.

The serpent-men were an organized community. They had a leader and the rest were all workers. Sometimes they saw the fighting practices they had and discovered how good fighters they were. Instead of a sword, they used large metal beams. Hand to hand fighting was also a common thing, and it was a strange ritual, since they used their long tails to choke their opponents to declare victory over them.

Weekly they came back with reports of what they had seen, and because of it they were given extra food and wine at dinner.

One of those times, Aslyan was heading to the captain's quarters to report the sighting of another Tsaesci ritual. Once outside, he raised his hand to knock on the door, but he heard another person inside talking to the captain. He was about to leave and come back later when he heard something that caught his attention.

"Sir, we cannot keep this from them forever. They will find out some time or another." Aslyan recognized the voice from the captain's second in command. He had heard it plenty of times taking over situations when the captain wasn't present.

"Stop this madness, Ralios. You know these are the king's orders and we are here to accomplish them."

"Once they realize why they're here they're not going to be happy. There are some that actually trust you."

"I know, and I trust them too, but I can't take any risks. If they find out sooner, things will go wrong."

"How do you plan on making them trust you? The only option you've got is to tell them." A noticeable nervousness could be heard from Ralios' voice.

"Not necessarily. There has to be an accident, an element of surprise."

"What if it doesn't happen?"

"I'm going to make it look like one"

A few seconds of silence invaded the room. Millions and millions of possibilities were flying through Aslyan's mind, involving all sorts of stuff. He needed to tell somebody about it.

"We will start the walk tomorrow morning. That is the final decision."

Aslyan quickly backed off the door and pretended to be walking on a random direction. The door open and Ralios came out, slamming it behind him. They both shared direct eye contact for a second, and his frustration was visible. Aslyan continued walking as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Later that night Aslyan and his group were eating a strange kind of wild boar another group had hunted. The following day they were going to leave the base and travel inland, and everyone was excited, except Aslyan. The conversation he had heard had left him worried all night. What if they were planning an invasion they didn't know about on one of the Akaviri races or, even worse, what if they were all there to die, in a no-return trip? Regardless, he stayed quiet. He didn't even mention it to anyone on his group, he didn't know how, not yet.

"Take out that long face, brother." Dhargos was talking with his mouth full of meat "Or you're going to end up looking like a fucking Falmer."

"Oh shut up, at least I don't…"

The sound of a loud scream was heard nearby, and the sound of voices stopped. Most of the warriors stood up acting alert.

"What was that?"

Aslyan slowly raised his body and noticed an odd smell covering the camp.

Another scream followed, along with the sound of metal hitting something, and the strange odor turned into the smell of something burning. At this point everybody started losing control.

"Grab your swords, people!" shouted one warrior, and almost immediately after, a tall Tsaescii creature appeared behind the tents and headed in their direction. It was extremely fast, and before anybody could do anything, the serpent grabbed one of the warriors by his neck and pulled him over. The man struggled but his efforts were useless. The creature was threatening to kill him with the simple turn of its tail and there was no obvious way of escaping. The Tsaescii rose up taller than everybody on the place and spoke in a loud-clear human language:

"Bring me whoever is in charge"

Every single warrior was surprised by the appearance of the serpent and the perfect human language it spoke, and nobody was able to move.

"I said, show me your commander" the serpent pressed the warriors neck and he struggled even more. The screams he made were terrifying.

The captain showed up in front of everyone, also showing a surprised face.

"I am their captain."

"You…" The tsaescii approached him. "What is this?" He raised his arms and looked around. "What do you even think you are doing invading our territory?"

"I… This…" The captain was speechless.

The serpent released the warrior, who dropped in the ground with one hand trying to catch his breath, and grabbed the captain the same way. Everybody reacted pulling their weapons out, but still did not attack.

"Fool, stupid humans." The creature was not smiling "I've got a whole army around this little camp of yours waiting for my signal to attack. You've got absolutely no chance of winning this."

Calmly they put their weapons down, but not all of them did. Aslyan sheathed his sword.

The serpent made sure he was having everyone's eyes put on him, and spoke again.

"Now here is the chance that I'm giving you: you will all leave and pick up your tiny camp before the sun comes up tomorrow. If you, by any chance, don't obey my orders, I will make sure my soldiers kill every single one of you."

The silence was very present. Nobody knew what to say.

"We're n…not here to attack." The captain could barely talk "Not y…your race."

"Oh, no? What are here for, then, my little friends?"

"We're in this continent to explore. We were sent by the king, now leave him alone." said one of the warriors.

"To explore?" The serpent-man hissed and laughed. "I can see you still do not realize what a bunch of fools you are. Do you really think someone would organize such a trip to "Explore"? Well, it seems like even your own captain is making you idiots."

"I'm not…"

"Let him go, you stupid snake!"

That was the worst thing anyone could have done. The serpent, in the blink of an eye, cracked the captain's head in a full circle. Astonished, the crew watched how the lifeless corpse of their commander dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

A moment later, an arrow flew through the air and struck the serpent in the chest, followed by the shouts of many warriors. This was the breaking point. The tsaescii changed its expression and hissed loudly in an unknown language. When people started running towards it, a large army of serpents started the imminent invasion of their camp.

"Waaaaar!" Exclaimed a corpulent soldier while running into them, and was followed by many. But most of them were simply neck-torn or pushed back before they could do anything.

Aslyan quickly realized this was a fight they could not win by any means, so he told most of the guys he could see to back off.

"Run away!" He shouted, among the many screams of soldiers wasting their lives. "We cannot win this, escape for your lives!"

He started running away from the attack and got an idea. He quickly ripped off the map from the board in the reunion point near the tables, and continued sprinting.

A large group followed Aslyan, as he fled away from the camp heading to the coast. The plain darkness of the night helped them to not get seen.

They were about twenty people. Senira and drunk-Dhargos were with them. He needed to decide what to do, and there was not much time left.

"Alright, people. We need to take one or two of the rafts we took to get to land." He opened the ripped map and took a close look at it, with millions of thoughts crossing his mind. "According to the map, the current on the shore will take us in a southeast direction. We can't be near these creatures. As you can see, they are invincible, now listen." Everybody was staring at him, with their white eyes in the middle of the dark, full of hope. Aslyan felt an awful sensation, what if this plan of his didn't work? "We can think of a plan to get back to Tamriel later, but now, we need to be as far away from here as possible."

Thankfully, everyone agreed. They crossed the water and divided into two rafts, ten warriors each. Once they felt secure, they started sailing until they found the current.

Worries gradually numbed down. The raft was quite big and stable, and it picked up a fast speed later on. Until everyone was calm and silent, Aslyan lay down in a somewhat comfortable position between all of the warriors and stared at the tiny million stars.

He wandered, what was the plan the captain and Ralios were talking about? Was that it? Sacrificing his own life to show something? In that case, what was he trying to show?

"Thank you" A female voice interrupted his thoughts. Aslyan saw Senira sitting next to him with a tired expression. "You saved a lot of lives today"

"We all saved ourselves, I didn't do anything."

"Are you always so modest?"

They both giggled.

"I'm being honest here. Thank you, Aslyan" She said and lay down.

He smiled, and kept a straight look to the sky. It was until then when he realized how exhausted he was. When he closed his eyes, dreams and nightmares swallowed him into a long, very long night.


	4. Nightmares

**I know this is a short episode, but I promise, next one will be much longer! :)**

* * *

The cluttered skies of Sovngarde burned Aslyan's eyes every time he looked up. The constellations of the warrior, the thief and the mage could be seen. Thousands of different shapes and layers of clouds flashed many tones of colors and lights, and even though it was painful to watch directly, it didn't stop being a beautiful sight.

But Aslyan hadn't come all the way to the word of the dead warriors and the afterlife to see the eternally illuminated night. He had come to defeat Alduin.

With him were three other heroes: Felldir the Old, Gormlaith Golden-Hilt and her brother, Hakon One-Eye. They all had once defeated Alduin many centuries ago, and they were with him now to do it again, once and for all.

Aslyan crossed the bone bridge and was followed by his companions, while feeling a glimpse of excitement in his stomach. He had done everything that needed to be done; Tsun had challenged him, and he had fought well. He had entered the Hall of Valor, and now there was only one thing left to be resolved.

"I defeated the World-Eater a hundred lifetimes ago, and since then my heart has been burning for revenge." Hakon looked up feeling the power on his chest.

"I was killed by it, brother." Said Gormlaith "And I've been waiting what seemed like countless hours. I am more than eager to win this battle than I was ever before."

Aslyan was feeling the same things. Ever since Alduin had attacked Helgen and burned the whole place down, he had been seeking his blood. Of course, the time he had waited was not compared to the one the others had, but his angst was certainly still powerful.

At a certain point they were not able to see anything anymore. A deep fog covered the area. "This is it." Thought Aslyan. "This is where I kill him. This is where I can finally defeat that dragon."

But the fog covering the ground was too strong.

"We cannot fight him with this mist. Clear the skies, combine our shouts!"

"Lok, Vah Koor!" The four of them shouted, and a powerful blast of wind emerged from their mouths. The mist opened up as if it was scared of them, and the area was visible again. Alduin was nowhere to be seen, though.

They waited quietly for his appearance, but what they got instead was a strong voice telling the mist to cover them up again.

"Ven Mul Riik" The voice echoed through the fields and gave a chill on his spine. It was really Alduin.

"I knew he would not give up this easily."

"Again!"

They all shouted, but the dragon would not be so easily defeated.

"Ven Mul Riik" And the fog quickly trapped them once again.

"Is his strength limitless?" Asked Hakon, but his sister was not nearly finished.

"Let us do it once again, his power crumbles!"

Again, the four of the shouted and the skies cleared once more. This time the dragon did not summon the mist. Instead, three large balls of fire appeared behind the mountains, followed by the loud growl of the dragon.

"Cover yourselves!"

The fireballs ended up in the ground, scattering dirt all over them. The dragon took the opportunity to come out of his hiding spot and head over to where they were.

A large blaze of fire covered them and the dragon flew away quickly. For a couple of minutes, Alduin flew back and forth over their heads, shooting and firing at them, but Aslyan was not at all unprepared. After all these months of knowledge, he had learned what to do. When the dragon lowered his flight, the warriors got close.

"JOOR, ZAH FRUL" He shouted, and hit the dragon with it. Alduin was forced to land, and Aslyan was finally able to reach him.

While the others ran to hit the creature, Aslyan stood still for a moment. Once in the ground, Alduin was not immortal anymore. He had understood the meaning of mortality, and was now able to be slain. Only then Aslyan realized the power he had in his hands. Killing the World-Eater was now possible.

So he ran, just like the others, and attacked with the sword he had been carrying along since the beginning. The dragon watched, paralyzed, as he was hit over and over again. There was nothing he could do.

The fight lasted less than Aslyan was expecting. When the dragon could not stand up anymore, everyone started to back off, but Aslyan kept hitting again and again, hearing the moan of Alduin as his life perished. Then, he dropped the final blow.

"Die, World-Eater, in despair and fear!" Shouted Gormlaith.

The dragon opened his wings in his last whisper of life, talking in dragon language:

"I am immortal, I cannot die!" He said as he started to burn, his wings turning into ashes.

"Zu'u unslaad, zu'u nis oblaan!" He kept saying, over the sound of the fire that was quickly spreading through his chest. A blast of light flashed inside his body.

The wind carried the dust of his corpse, as well as his wails, that were swallowed by the mist. The black ashes of his bones that remained on the ground were consumed.

Aslyan stood still, hearing people chanting and saying his name like he was a hero. But he had not quite showed his joy for victory. Something was off, missing. He noticed he had not absorbed the soul of this dragon. This had been different.

"For Tamriel, for Sovngarde!" Shouted all three of the warriors, but Aslyan remained silent.

And as the final black particles disappeared into thin air, the dragon's life ceased to be, as if it had never existed.


	5. Wreck

**Please review! Thank you!**

* * *

The sound of ocean waves breaking in the sand and the feeling of cold water touching his feet is what made Aslyan open his eyes. The sun shined intensely in his skin and he felt it hot, burning. His head hurt, so he sat sown on the sand and covered his eyes, pressing his head hardly so that the pain faded away. When he was finished, he took a look around him.

He was in the shore of a small island, he could see that in front of him was the immense ocean and behind him a deep jungle covered with large trees.

He stood up and looked around for any sign of other people. All he saw were pieces of broken planks and beams of wood spread around all over the sand. As he started walking for more explanations a set of memories occupied his mind, refreshing what had happened the previous night.

Images of a terrible storm appeared. Aslyan and his crew had been separated from the other raft, and had gone missing. The currents had gotten way too powerful to control, and before anyone knew it, they had become completely lost in the middle of the sea.

Minutes later the raft was hit by an enormous wave that broke it into a thousand pieces. From that point on, Aslyan could only remember small fragments, images of the horrible storm and the moment where he almost drowned trying to save the other warriors.

Aslyan walked over a hundred meters to see if he found anything. Any sign of life was absent. All he stumbled upon were the remaining soaked pieces of the map he had carried with him. He took it and try to reassemble the pieces together. The water had erased most of the paint, but he could still see the shape and parts of the names on the continent. After a thorough look, he assumed the currents had brought the raft south of the Tsaesci region, The Tang Mo, thousand monkey islands. After walking a little more he confirmed it; all he could see were tiny islands all around him.

There was nothing he could do. He tried to surround the island, but it seemed to be bigger than the other ones, so he decided to step into the deep jungle.

He walked for a few minutes, and found a variety of species of plants. He was amazed at the amount of different kinds of plants with shapes and forms he had never seen before. He saw a couple of unusual animals; antelopes with strange horns, rabbits that jumped higher than normal that could climb trees, and also many different types of birds of several colors.

He was watching a big patch of red flowers when he realized how hungry he was. He had not eaten in a day, and his stomach roared screaming for food. There were plenty of fruit trees all over the place, but Aslyan was afraid of what he could eat and what he could not, maybe one of them could be poisonous.

But he could not resist. The war between his stomach and his mind was lost. When he saw a vine of something that looked like red grapes hanging down from a low tree, he went straight to get them, but before he could reach them something on the ground made him trip over.

Aslyan fell on a patch of dry leaves with a loud thud.

"Damn it!" He exclaimed, and he tried to stand up, but he couldn't; he discovered his leg was tied to the ground with a strong rope. He tried to untie the knot, but it was way too strong, so he took out his dagger and started trying to cut it open. It was in that moment when he heard the sound of a heavy object falling. The rope tensed and he felt like the world quickly turned upside down. He was pulled up and ended up in the top of the tree, about three meters from the ground. He saw that the rope was connected to a big rock on the other side of the tree.

A loud sound of an intermittent horn was triggered and he heard the beating of bird wings fleeing away, scared by the piercing sound.

An alarm system.

As Aslyan's world faded away in a black screen, he understood that he had fallen in the middle of a trap, and that the beings of that unknown continent would be there soon.

* * *

Aslyan heard an illegible language, footsteps and the sound of breathing of a couple of creatures.

The darkness in his eyes slowly showed where he really was, and immediately after he saw the ground in front of him, he felt the pain on his neck and arms.

He was tied to a wooden pole by his arms and two creatures were carrying him. His chest hurt and his respiration was irregular. He felt blood coming down his head, meaning he had been beat-up.

"Hello?" He asked, knowing for sure he would not get an answer.

The creatures stopped talking with each other. They knew he was awake now, but didn't care and continued walking. He could not see their faces neither their bodies, but he knew they were Tang Mo.

The trip took a long time. Aslyan wasn't able to see very well, but they crossed many bridges and platforms that connected one island to another. There were immense paths, and many shelters where they lived built in the trees. The scenery was beautiful, even though Aslyan could only see parts of it.

Finally, after a ceaseless walk all over the territory, the pair of monkeys stopped. They seemed to have carried him over to what Aslyan assumed was their main base. He could see many of them running to see what they had brought and, judging by the sounds they produced, they were pretty impressed with the arrival of the human.

There was a commotion around him, a whole crowd, and he was scared. He wandered what they considered him; as a relic, or as a terrible danger. They were taking him as a prisoner, so the first option seemed less likely.

He finally met face to face with the leader of their people. The monkeys that were carrying him put the pole in a vertical position so that he could see directly the one in charge, and he felt a relief when they let him rest his feet on the ground.

Their leader was scary. He was taller than any other in the place, taller than a human. Aslyan had heard stories about them, saying that the Tang Mo were known for being a simple but brave race, perhaps even insane. There were stories of them being able to build entire armies in a few days only to defend their territory and their race.

The village he was in was bigger than he had imagined. Almost every single tree was occupied with a house. The buildings were made out of wood and there were dozens of bridges going from one house to another, making a giant grid of houses of many levels over their heads. The ground floor was almost intact; there were no structures at all built on it. All around, behind the deep layers of the jungle, the village was protected with waterfall walls in every direction. This was the center point of a massive island between two giant waterfalls.

The monkey race started to quiet down and watched their leader steadily. Aslyan stopped looking around with his amazed face.

"Gaol Bak'tuun les, niv Bak'lor!" He said, and everyone seemed to agree, because the crowd made a loud cheer. Even the commander smiled, to show that he had superiority over Aslyan.

"Nes vathor lik'ro daas." He said and turned over to Aslyan. It almost felt strange when he talked in human language."You… enemy. I… king"

Aslyan made his best try to understand but all he could hear were a couple of nonsense words; the monkey spoke with a very weird accent.

"I don't understand you" he dared to say, but the monkey didn't seem to understand either. He spit on Aslyan, which showed that they were not allies at all, and everyone started cheering up again.

The monkey made a command in his language and one of the creatures that had carried him picked up a heavy branch of wood from the ground, and looked directly at him.

"No… don't do this to me." Aslyan found himself begging. "I can help you, I can…"

His mind blacked out when the heavy object hit him in the front of his head.


	6. Prison

**IF THERE ARE ANY ERRORS IN THIS OR PREVIOUS CHAPTERS, PLEASE MENTION THEM, AND IF THERE IS SOMETHING YOU LIKED OR DISLIKED IN THE CHAPTER LEAVE A REVIEW! ENJOY!**

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Aslyan woke up after he had been jailed. At first, all he saw around him were wooden bars and dozens of empty cells next and in front of him. He was on a platform on the top of a tall tree, and he only realized how high he was until he looked down. There were two or three more platforms beneath him with several bridges, where the monkey race walked every hour of the day.

The atmosphere was hotter than usual, probably because he was on the very top and the sun hit harder there. Throughout the day, he saw many guards watching over him, and monkeys that only passed to stare at the new outsider, like he was an alien of some sort, and left scared to the safety of their town below.

He could see the whole village from his position, and although he was their prisoner, he admired the work they had done with it. It was quite hidden within all the layers of the jungle trees and evidently it would be difficult for an Akaviri race like the Tsaescii to invade since only a race of monkeys would be able to traverse such an ocean of trees.

Aslyan saw how they fought in a little arena hanging down four trees. As well as the serpent race they used large wooden beams, but instead of using it as a weapon they used it as a way of transport, to move around in the middle of the fight. It was more of a dance than a battle, and they were pretty good at it. The stories were correct; these monkeys were intelligent, from their buildings to their fighting techniques, they did everything seamlessly, everything perfect.

Initially, Aslyan tried to attract the attention of the guards (a pair of corpulent monkeys with heavy iron armor) but his efforts were useless; they were probably told not to share even the slightest look with the prisoner. Later on he gave up and kept quiet.

Hours later, they gave him his first meal. It was some sort of rotten tomatoes that smelled quite grotesque. Aslyan was decided not to eat them and throw them away, when his stomach roared desperately for food. After stopping trying, he tried his best to swallow the food quickly and chew the least possible, because it caused a disgusting feeling, but soon his hunger took oven and he did not care anymore.

Hours passed, and fairly slowly. Finally, the sun fell down and the moon appeared on the other side. The village below started to light up with torches and the pathways emptied. The prison cells remained in the darkness, though.

Soon, the guards started to become tired. Aslyan saw as both of them lie down on the bars and as they, without even noticing, fell asleep. He sighted; he had been thinking all day of the events that had happened and the situation he was in. He still wasn't really sure if he was in danger or not, but he was definitely sure he had no help around him. He started to wonder what would happen next, and if he had any chance of escaping that horrible place.

He suddenly felt tired, even though he hadn't done anything in the whole day. He put himself in the most comfortable position he possibly could and closed his eyes, but all of the sudden he heard a voice, calling him.

"Hey!" a manly voice called.

Aslyan reopened his eyes. Human language. Was he already dreaming?

"Hey, you there!"

Aslyan looked around, only to find a man crouching in the other cell across the platform. Aslyan couldn't see him very well, but he sure was not of the monkey race. His mouth widened open. Were there other humans with him?

"Hello. Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"I saw those monkeys carrying you over here. They hit you bad, didn't they?"

Only then Aslyan remember they had hit him to knock him out, and the pain started again.

"Yeah, I guess so. Who are you?"

"They brought you over here, and I saw as many of them spat on your body when you were unconscious. Man, these monkeys are crazy for sure."

"Yes, but who are you, damn it?

"My name is Neridas. I was imprisoned here many years ago."

Oh, gods. Many years ago?

"How much? And why do you talk to me until now?"

"I would say probably like five years, maybe more." He said, and Aslyan's jaw dropped to the floor. This was even more inescapable than he had thought. "And I had been quiet and hidden here because the guards would not like us to talk to each other; they would probably put us apart. That is why I only talk to you now, they're asleep, see?"

"Wh… why are you here? Where is your crew? I mean… are you even from this place?"

"Hey, hey. Easy there on the questions. I've only got one mouth, see?" He pointed at his mouth. Then he inspected Aslyan as if he was a strange object. "Who are YOU?"

"My name is Aslyan." He started to explain. "I came about a week ago to this continent with an exploration crew. We were fine until the…"

"Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, fun story. The point is that you ended up here." Neridas interrupted, and the train of thought of Aslyan quenched.

Silence invaded. Night animals and insects could be heard all over the place. The bare light of the moon that flashed through the leaves made it possible for Aslyan to see a part of the other prisoner's face. Neridas was not young, but not too old either. His face was full of scratches and scars, and in his eyes he could see he had lived a lot of things. Aslyan broke the silence down.

"Why are you here, man?"

Neridas looked down. A cold breeze passed by Aslyan's skin and a shiver ran through his spine, making him shake. "I don't know how my people got to this continent. I was born in a big underground village north from here, and I have lived there my entire life."

"Wait, there are humans in Akavir?"

He looked around. "Well, are you blind?"

"No, no. What I mean is, is there really an entire population of humans in this continent?"

"Well, I guess so, and it has been like that for many years now. There are stories that tell that my own great-grandfather organized an entire expedition to conquer Akavir. I guess we lost and fled to the mountains, where no race could follow us."

"You have hid all your life?"

"I suppose. We are building up an army, but the Akaviri races are way too powerful, even if there were millions of us. We were planning on allying with the Tang Mo, make a pact, but these stupid monkeys, man. They don't play around. That is what brought me and my crew here."

"Your crew? Are there others?"

"Not anymore." His head fell down in wail "They were killed, sacrificed, all of them right before my eyes."

Aslyan looked down as well. He found no words to say at that moment, so he just remained quiet. Unexpectedly, his mind started making thousands and thousands of connections. His brain quickly produced an idea, based on things Aslyan had previously heard and read. It all suddenly concluded in a simple question.

"Hey, Neridas?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know what the name of your great-grandfather was?"

"Hmm… I think I do, why?"

"Just because" Aslyan found no other answer.

Neridas contemplated the question for a couple of seconds, maybe a bit more than necessary, as if he was getting the taste of a fine wine in his mouth.

"I recall he was called Nerevarine, but I think he was known better as the Hero of Morrowind."

Aslyan could not help but to smile.


	7. Sacrifice

**NOT MUCH TO SAY, JUST REVIEW!**

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Keys opening a lock with a clenching sound, metal hitting against metal and a door being opened.

Aslyan looked around, confused. His eyes could barely stay open, he was still half asleep.

All he saw were blurred individuals getting close to him, and he felt a tight press as they grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up. The blurry image quickly resolved into the faces of two monkeys, serious as they could be, dragging him out of his tiny cell.

"Man! They can never leave me company!" exclaimed Neridas, who was watching the show from his cell at the other side.

"Wh… what are they doing to me?" Aslyan asked, feeling his mouth dry and his head pumping blood like crazy. The dizziness he was having was not at all normal.

"It's always like this. I finally get someone to talk to and they kill them right away" He complained, talking to himself furiously.

"What do you mean kill?" Aslayn's body was numbed, he could not move a single muscle. His mind could not focus at all and his senses were out of place. "What are you talking about, man?"

Slowly his mind figured out he had been drugged, probably it had been the meal they gave him as dinner. The pair of monkeys kept carrying him like a sack of food. They were at the end of the platform, and started to descend.

"Goodbye, my friend. It was good to share my story with you." Neridas said, as he disappeared out of vision, protected inside his cell.

Goodbye? What were they doing with him?

The Tang Mo quickly reached the platform beneath the cells, and continued walking. They crossed various levels of bridges, and Aslyan, as much as he tried, could not shake the dizziness off his head; the drug was way too powerful.

A large crowd was beginning to form behind him. They were following them, as if there was going to be some kind of show. How was he related to all of this?

The drug's effect eventually faded away, but the results were terrible. His stomach suddenly felt like it was upside down, and he felt the necessity to vomit. For a few seconds the world around him and the continuously louder sound that the crowd made were completely scrambled in his brain.

When his consciousness finally cleared out, he saw that he was tied to a beam, in the middle of a very large platform. The shapes and sound started to make sense again, and this time he felt he regained the control over his body, although the tie in the pole he was in made it impossible for him to escape.

"Smart monkeys" he thought at loud. They knew he was stronger than them so they drugged him so that he could not escape.

Now that he was conscious again, he saw all of them watching him, in the middle of a large arena. They were making a show out of him, and they were all staring. The memory of a word that had been mentioned by Neridas struck his mind with a strike.

Sacrifice.

He gulped. Was his end really going to be this way?

The king monkey appeared in front of him, walking with the help of his wooden decorated staff. It had two carved dragons on both sides.

The king talked in his language to all of his people, and at some point he raised his staff and pointed at Aslyan with it, talking loudly and rudely. Everybody cheered and that made Aslyan more scared than he would dare to admit.

When he finished his speech, he backed off and hid behind some sort of cover. At this point he started making the ritual, talking strange words while the others made noises with their hands and feet. Aslyan waited for more than a couple of minutes, which seemed to be hours in the situation he was in.

The commotion grew larger and larger, and in the final seconds his own voice would be almost inaudible.

Then everyone fell silent, and all the noise disappeared as if it had never existed.

Aslyan saw as, in front of him, a large and tall space started to break in mid air, the sides of his vision separating as if someone had drawn a line of paint, and a wound was created.

The insides of the wound were a mixture of purple and black, shaking violently like it wanted to spread out of the edges. The patch of paint started to grow, taller and taller, until it reached the height of two humans on top of each other.

And when the wound widened, the outsides barely fitting inside the arena, a large shape started to take form and emerged out of the wound.

The figure was white, blurry at first, and then it started to round up, eventually taking the shape of a human with a cape covering his body, his head beneath a hood. The shape started to shrink down and took a step to the front.

The final details started to form up, and just in front of Aslyan ended up the body of a young, slender woman, with a smile on her face. When she removed the hood out of her head, Aslyan saw how beautiful she was. She had a long, dark hair that fell all the way down her chest, same height as him, green penetrating eyes, and the grin in her lips showed that she was happy with what she was seeing.

The magic wound closed behind her and disappeared.

"Oh, a human." She was surprised, and the way Aslyan stared at her made her smile even more. "It has been a while since I don't see one of your race in this place. I see that this continent is now full of them."

"I…" Aslyan could not express himself.

"Oh, look! He is stuttering!" She touched his lower chin, just where his new beard was growing. "Are you nervous, mortal? Are you afraid of what is going to happen? Don't you worry, creature. I am sure you will be fine."

She snapped her fingers and time seemed to stop completely. Aslyan looked around. The public was still, with their eyes concentrated on the woman in the middle of the platform, not moving at all. When he stared back she was still directly looking at him.

"What… who are you?" He asked.

"Many people know me as Meridia, in your human language, although my name is other, and not many mortals in this world can pronounce it." She got her mouth close his ear. "Sah'vinna Dashi'v" she whispered, and a chill ran through Aslyan's spine. The word had so much power in it. He repeated it to himself and every time he did another hundred feelings invaded his body.

So, she was one of the Daedric princes. He had heard very little about her, and he only knew she was know because of being beautiful, not much else.

"What do you want from me?"

"Oh, I want so many things from you. There is something you have that many other mundane creatures don't." She walked slowly around the pole he was tied to. "You have power."

"I'm not the only one that has power."

"It's not that kind of power I want." She said and once again whispered in his ear, making him shiver "You have the dragon blood running through your veins."

"I'm not sure I still have it."

"Oh, boy, you do, and it's more powerful than ever before, I can assure you."

"How can I give it to you? Will you let me free if I do?" Aslyan asked, his voice shaking.

"Humans, humans, always full of questions." She replied and let out a slight laugh. "No, kid. It is not that simple. It's never that way." She raised one of her fingers, and a large nail was created out of thin air. With it, she cut the rope that had tied Aslyan to the pole. He thanked her, but she did not listen. Instead, she examined him, floating around him a few times. He did not try to escape; it would be useless against a Daedric Prince, so he remained in the same position and stretched out his arms.

"So are you going to kill me for my powers, then?"

"Kill you?" She exclaimed and laughed loudly, stunning him. "If there is one thing that you must know about me is that I dislike death. I would prefer that every mortal lived forever. It would make for a more intelligent, wiser community." The laugh faded away, and she showed a more serious face. "No, no, human. I would not enjoy seeing you dead. This is the thing; the dragon blood running through your veins is currently… let's put it this way, "stuck". All you need to do is get it flowing again."

"How?"

"Easy! Just absorb a dragon soul, that's all."

"Dragons are extinct. How am I going to do that?"

"Oh, creature. You are more mistaken than you think. Things don't just "go extinct". Extinction is a powerful word, and should not be used in the wrong situations." She said and turned around. "Look around, honey. Look at where you are. This is not even a challenge for you, not at all compared with the things you have lived and experienced."

"So, how am I supposed to find a dragon? What do I do?"

"You don't do anything. Destiny will carry you through every correct turn. You don't need to move a single finger. Just flow with the river."

The wound started to emerge once again, with purple and black shades.

"Can't you help me?"

"It is not my job to help you. I can't and I won't. Now, all I can do is wish you good luck."

She started to fade away through the million layers on the wound.

"Thank you" Aslyan said and the purple figure completely disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

Suddenly, the time came back to normal, and the entire arena was reactivated again. Aslyan looked at himself, now free of the ties that held him to the poles, and the pieces of ripped rope on the ground.

And as multiple Tang Mo started to scream of surprise, he started to run.


	8. Escape

His heart started to beat like it was about to jump out of his chest. He ran swiftly through the platform and crossed the entry pathway before anyone could barely react; the public was confused, and the king was as well. To them, one second ago he had been tied to a pole. Now he was free, escaping their show like he had used some sort of magic.

Perhaps in other sacrifices the Daedra Prince decided another fate for the victim, maybe she even killed them, but then again, she had mentioned her hatred for death, and that made Aslyan more confused.

In any case, he had no time to be thinking around; the monkey race was angry, and very. In the lapse of seconds, they started to run behind him, throwing their spears and shooting arrows. Because of the surprise he had given them, Aslyan had a little bit of an advantage, but he knew it would not be for long. These monkeys were on their natural habitat, and it would be easy to catch a clumsy human like him in such a place.

Instead of running straight out of the village, through the forest and disappearing forever, he stopped abruptly, then changed his path; his mind was telling him that he had to do something first.

Out of the view of the monkeys, he started climbing, slowly but steadily, going up through ladders and crossing a couple of bridges, one platform to another. After a moment the moneys behind him seemed to spread out.

He had to make a couple of risky jumps through the platforms to get to his destination and when he was finally there, he was greeted by a pair of guards.

Aslyan had the element of surprise, which helped him knock out the first one pretty easily; using some of the tactics he had learned in the Guilds many years ago. He did not have that advantage with the second guard, though; the heavy armored creature charged at him strongly, knocking him a couple meters back. The monkey took his wooden weapon and started dropping continuous hits against him, one after the other, until Aslyan found himself in the ground screaming with pain. That made the monkey stop and stare at him for an instant, so Aslyan stood up and kicked the guard in his leg, overthrowing him. Before the helpless animal could do anything, Aslyan slipped a fast hit on a sensible point near the neck and the monkey finally fainted, just after letting go a last gasp calling for help.

Aslyan stared at his defeated opponent for a second, smiling in victory, then he remembered what he needed to do; he knelt down and grabbed the keys that hanged on the guard's belt. He ran to one of the cells, where Neridas watched firmly.

"I am surprised, pal."

"I needed to get you out of here." Aslyan said, finding the iron lock that was holding the cell door in place; he unlocked it with a clanking sound and the object fell on the platform making a loud thump noise. He did it quickly; the sound of people approaching was getting louder.

As soon as Neridas stood out of the chamber, he stretched his arms and legs, a massive smile illuminated his face; after many years, he was finally free.

The orders of a yelling monkey interrupted the scene, followed by two spears flying past them that almost touched Aslyan. They both looked at each other and thought the same thing.

"Run!" both of them seemed to say, and they started to sprint away from the prison cells, in the opposite direction that the army of mad creatures was. Soon, they discovered that the other side of the platform did not have a ladder; it lead into nothing, and both of them realized how deep in trouble they were.

"Dead end" said Neridas.

"Damn it! Now what do we do?"

They looked down; between them and the ground was a twenty-meter fall with tree branches, leaves and lianas in between. It was an almost impossible escape. Almost.

"We cannot do that drop. It is too high."

The soldiers approached quickly, armed with spears and stakes, as enraged as they could be; it would be an impossible fight.

"Do you see any other choice?" Neridas said, and before Aslyan could even open his mouth to reply, the man opened his arms and jumped off the platform, face first.

"Are you out of your mind?"

But after seeing him fall over the leaves, comparing it to the imminent fight with the guards, Aslyan took the decision as well. He opened his arms as wide as he could, took a deep breath and stepped out, and when he dropped, time seemed to slow down.

While the guards on the platform just stared at them with their jaws open, Aslyan felt the pain when his body hit one branch after another. He grabbed with his open hand whatever he could hold on to. Luckily, he managed to grasp a pair of thick lianas, which sent him swinging barely over the ground at an immense velocity. His face served as a shield to all the branches and leaves he hit on the other side, which helped him to slow down. He saw Neridas already on the ground, trying to stand up after all the heavy beating he had received, but in one piece nonetheless. Aslyan slowed down after a few swings to the point where he could just jump off the liana gracefully.

"Your face is bleeding." Neridas said.

"Yours is too."

Both laughed, and started to run in a random direction opposite to the village. It would be difficult to get out of it though, seeing that they were surrounded by waterfalls and rivers in every direction, but they fled anyways, seeing in what direction the paths led them.

A large group continued to chase them relentlessly at a large distance, which made them stay mostly hidden, sneaking swiftly from point to point. They had the advantage that the monkey race was not used to walking on the ground; there was no one that could follow them on foot. Ten minutes later, both of them decided they were not being pursued anymore; they could not hear anything else than the waterfalls and various melodies of birds singing.

"I think we are safe now." decided Neridas, taking his breath and breathing heavily. "In fact, I need to stop. I have not taken a single step since I got locked up; my condition must be as bad as a ninety-year-old's."

They walked the rest of the way. Aslyan looked back continuously, just to check if they were being followed, but nothing seemed to appear. Certainly, they had been lucky to get out of that situation alive.

"Where do we go now?" Aslyan asked.

"When I was captured, I remember being taken to a tiny dock in a river, somewhere near here. If I manage to find it, perhaps we can steal one of the rafts." replied Neridas, looking around. "If I recall correctly, it must be in this general direction."

They continued walking until they came across the river. Luck was shown on their side once more; a couple hundred meters down they found a tiny dock filled with wooden rafts.

They took one of them, both grabbing a plank to use as an oar.

"It smells putrid." said Neridas.

"The Tang Mo probably do not use such things as boats. This dock must have been unused for a long time now."

Eventually the smell of rotten wood faded away. The current of the river quickly carried them away from the dock, until it merged with another, and another. The waterfall walls had an exit to the ocean, and the view became impressive.

They were completely exhausted. None of them spoke a single word.

Neridas was happy, and he made it noticeable; the smile on his face just showed how grateful he was for finally being free. Aslyan was happy as well; he was not in trouble anymore. Of course, he still had no clue where his friends and crew were, but that did not seem important right now. Instead, he came to the conclusion he was on a brand new adventure, and that made him even more excited.


	9. Defeat

**If you haven't noticed, I am making the story as I go along (Yes, I should be ashamed because I don't have an outline, hehe), so if you have any ideas or suggestions for future chapters, feel free to post them as a review. Enjoy!**

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Aslyan fell asleep, and once again, the frightening nightmare repeated. In the beginning it all seemed the same; being in Sovngarde with his three companions, crossing the bridge of bones and waiting in a mysterious fog, eager for a long awaited fight, waiting for the black dragon to emerge from the mist.

But there was something odd in the dream, something that seemed to be out of place, and Aslyan noticed it from the very beginning. The events that happened were the exact same, but everything else appeared distorted, unusual. The scenery was different; the colors of the sky were stained with gray tones and strong, saturated colors. The way himself and his helpers talked sounded muffled, as if he was distant from his own body. The manner many other things felt as was different; the wind, the smell and his entire vision seemed to be ten times more powerful.

There was a new power within him, and he did not know how to control it.

The fight started. They managed to clear out the fog and Alduin came out from his hideout; a tall rock behind the mountains, just to start attacking and throwing fireballs at them.

Using the Dragonrend shout, they brought him down to the surface and started attacking. Hit after hit, the dragon started to weaken, his movement debilitated and his voice vanished slowly.

Finally, once they opened his hard scales, revealing his bare skin and flesh, Aslyan started to feel something weird. Each time they managed to cut Alduin, Aslyan felt a pain in his skin, constantly growing more powerful. Every second the pain got stronger and stronger, as if the hits he stroke were cutting him, instead of the dragon.

It was only at that point where Aslyan abruptly realized what was happening, and immediately felt dumb for not having noticed earlier.

He was Alduin.

Suddenly, everything became clear, and it all started to make sense. He was not seeing as Aslyan, the human warrior with a crafted ebony sword and the power to shout. He was instead Alduin, a dragon whose scales were crafted with the iron of immortality, whose knowledge was nearly infinite and whose power could not be compared with any other. And despite all that, he was at the same time the dragon suffering from an imminent defeat; one he knew he could not avoid nor he could stop.

His mind started to feel dizzy. It felt weird being inside the body of a dragon, controlling almost every sense. His size compared to the humans' was gigantic, but he was weak, in fact, he felt like he was about to faint. His senses started to go off in countless directions at the same time. His vision zoomed in and unfocused, until the point he was not able to see anything at all. The hits continued dropping, harder every time. His hearing became entirely muted and everything from his skin to his heart started to burn from the inside.

The most bizarre thing was that he could not control his own Aslyan-body. Beating after beating, the warrior now unknown to him dropped deadly swings to his black dragonscales. He tried to make him stop with his mind, but it was completely impossible.

The fight continued for what seemed as an eternity; minutes and seconds seemed to slow down, intensifying the pain even more. For more than a moment, his mind felt something weird; embarrassment. He was being humiliated, in front of all those people. He was being defeated as if killing a dragon was that easy, and there was not a single thing he could do.

And there he was at the end, defeated, unable to even move, having a difficult time taking whatever he could call breath into his lungs. The dark blood on his body gushed out of his veins, as he started screaming and roaring involuntarily for pain.

"I am immortal! I cannot die!" He exclaimed in dragon language, his scales rapidly turning into golden ashes and his flesh melting down to the ground.

His consciousness melted down with it, to the point where the only thing left of him was the last vision of the four warriors, celebrating with the cheer of an awaited victory.

* * *

Millions of dark colors flashed through his eyes, gray tones creating different shapes and figures. The commotion had settled down.

He could not feel any of the powers and senses he had experienced. In fact, he felt nothing at all. The only thing that was present was his mind, his thoughts and consciousness. His body was nowhere to be seen.

All he was able to perceive was a black curtain, covering everything. This vision remained for longer than he could reckon; at this point his perception of time was completely lost as well.

Suddenly, a deep voice emerged from the darkness, echoing as if it was covered by walls in every side.

"Bex hin miin" It said. Aslyan realized he actually understood. "Wake up."

A long time elapsed, nothing happened. There was nothing that he could do, so he remained in silent, unable to speak.

"Hio kos zoor daal" The voice insisted. "Meyz laas" Alduin needed to wake up; this was not over, not yet.

His senses returned, slowly but steadily. He started to feel, see and breathe once again, and it felt good. The pain had faded away as fast as it had started. He realized he was back to his normal form, not a pile of ashes. The voice became clearer and Alduin followed it, until he felt he had finally returned to life.

He was not back in Sovngarde, though.

"Drem Yol Lok, Alduin, welcome back home. It has been a while." He looked up and he saw a golden patch of colors, which were later transformed into the figure of an immense dragon.

Akatosh.

He was unmistakable; a pair of horns facing backwards, an elder expression that showed the amount of knowledge he had and enormous yellow wings that were as big as Alduin himself. His golden scales were what impressed most ones, shining a bright reflection of everything around him.

Not only he was Akatosh, the Master of Time, he was actually…

"Hello, father" Alduin said.

"I see that you were defeated, son. You did not manage to complete your objective."

Alduin did not reply; his father already knew the answer. There was no point on telling him what had happened.

"I cannot say I am disappointed, Alduin, but you could have done better."

"It is not my fault, father, for the humans have become more powerful than they were before."

A face of disapproval was shown on the golden dragon's face.

"You should be ashamed of yourself. A human defeated you." Akatosh pretended as if he had not listened to his comment. "Not just a human; a mortal one."

"Father, the dragon blood still runs through their…"

"I know there is still a Dragonborn on their side!" He shouted, leaving an echo in the whole room, that bounced through the walls and left behind a long silence. "You could have done better, Alduin. I know the power you have; I know the things you are able to do. That is all I can say."

The silence returned, while Alduin reflected on what just had happened, and after all this time, it all seemed easy. Just the simple fact of defeating a human sounded like such an easy task, something simple for a dragon like him, and despite having all the power and all the choices, he had done something wrong along the way.

"Give me a second chance, father, please." he asked. Akatosh just turned around and started walking away back to the darkness.

"You have been given many chances, Alduin, and you have thrown them away. Your name is not worthy of your soul anymore; you shall be renamed."

"Do not do this to me, father. I know I can do it again. Let me get back to Mundus." he said, but it was useless, the God of Time had already disappeared.

And Aslyan was left there, alone inside the mind of Alduin, wondering what he would do next.


	10. Journey

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* * *

When Aslyan woke up, all covered in sweat, his lungs having a hard time getting air back and his heart bumping like it was going to jump out of his chest, Neridas still slept like a baby in the hands of his mother.

He waited for his heart to become steady again, a process that took a lot of time. Only after he could start to breathe normally, his mind was able to think. Rapid sets of memories invaded him and naturally a deep thought came into his mind.

Was Alduin not dead yet?

His head started to spin. Suddenly the idea of that nightmare was sickening. He did not know if he could trust his dream. In case he didn't, what if it was true? In the end, he had dragon blood running through his veins; he had had this kind of visions before.

And having seen Akatosh had been terrifying; the God of Time, Master of all Dragons, being right there on front of him and threatening him.

The dream felt very real even after it had ended. Once inside his mind, Aslyan had known everything Alduin thought and believed. The dragon hated him, and for a clear reason; Aslyan had humiliated him, in a way. He had killed him right in the very eyes on his own father, and for that he did had not forgiven him.

And he was seeking revenge.

Aslyan turned over and rested his head in the side of the boat, looking outside, at the water, at himself.

As much as he tried to think the dream had not been real, he could not. He had really felt, in his own flesh and bones, how enraged Alduin was.

Trying to shake the thought away, he looked around. They were still on a current, probably being taken north. The night before, they had surrounded the whole patch of islands, trying to stay as far away as possible when they sighted any glimpse of civilization.

The islands were becoming bigger now. Perhaps they were finally approaching the Akaviri continent; the place where monkey races and sacrificial rituals did not take place anymore; where there was not any sign of danger anymore.

Aslyan had been through rough times and he hadn't had time to think clearly. Everything starting from the ritual the monkeys had made to his escape with Neridas had been hard to take in.

The thoughts started coming; who was really Meridia? And why hadn't she done anything to him? The monkeys had all seemed really confused, and he was as well. All he could understand was that she had given him a challenge, a condition. Now he was in debt with her.

She wanted his dragon blood, his power; a power that had been inactive for many years, and that could only be activated until he slew a dragon, but how? He saw all the pieces merging together; dreams about Alduin, his dormant power and the goddess. It was soon to tell yet, but he knew her offer was probably somehow related with the Eater of Worlds, or perhaps some kind of reincarnation of him.

When shaking all those dark and mysterious thought away, Neridas rose from his fetal position, his face marked red with the wooden planks of the raft and his eyes barely open.

"Man, it feels good to be free." was the first thing he said, an open smile showing in his face.

* * *

They stayed on the boat until the sea current was gone. At that point, the land on the left was solid, not islands anymore; Akavir. Landing was easy, considering the size of the boat. They knew they would not use again ever again, so they left it on the sand without even taking time to cover it up.

This side of the continent was not covered in a deep jungle anymore; it had been transitioned into a massive savannah, going as far as the eye could see, reflecting the sun and creating a relaxing sound when a wind wave passed by.

Aslyan and Neridas walked for hours, without stopping. The sun was moving slowly above their heads and time didn't even seem to move. The scenery barely even changed; large grasslands tainted in yellow tones.

The hunger did not strike until the sun was about to go down again.

"We need to hunt for something." Said Aslyan.

"We will not find anything good to hunt now; it will be a waste of time. We are about to get there."

"About to get where?"

"Arthgar." Neridas replied "The place I talked you about."

"The hidden village?"

"I wouldn't say it is a village, and remember I haven't been there in a while, but yes. If I remember correctly, it must be a couple hours north from here."

"A couple hours? At that point we are going to starve to death."

"I thought you would resist a little more, pal. For me, spending two nights without food feels completely normal."

Oh yes, he had forgotten Neridas had been a prisoner of a cruel race for over half a decade. Both of them remained in silence until, hours later, Neridas broke it.

"How in Sovngarde did you manage to escape those stupid monkeys?"

Aslyan thought of the possibilities he had to answer; he could tell the strange truth about the goddess, or he could lie about it.

"I fought." he said "They put me into a battle with one of their leaders, and I won. After that I escaped."

"I saw you fighting, when you were approaching the cells to release me. I have seen many people trying to battle them, including myself. Where did you learn to do those movements?"

"I have been in many guilds and learnt numerous tactics."

"Guilds? Are those even a thing still? What has been happening over on Tamriel?"

"Well, all I know is that back in Skyrim there has been civil wars, falling empires and countless guilds participating on the several wars that have been taking place. In all honestly, all I wanted to do is escape that reality."

"I understand." He said, and after several seconds he looked around. "We are getting closer. Be alert."

Aslyan watched his surroundings; all he could see were immense grasslands covering entire hills and extending across the horizon line.

"How do you know we are getting closer?"

As soon as he said it, he stepped on a large boulder and almost tripped over. Before Neridas grabbed his arm to catch him up again, his entire life crossed through his eyes; right beneath him had appeared an enormous hole that widened open a dozen meters ahead.

The ravine was more than a hundred meters deep; the light from the sun barely reached half of its length. Right on the bottom of it laid hundreds of thousands of grey houses with illuminated windows carved in the walls. The houses seemed insignificant compared to the pair of rocks that fell down when Aslyan stepped on them, plummeting down at a high speed.

"This is how." Laughed Neridas.

Aslyan inhaled a big patch of air and jumped back to a safe position, his heart bumping like crazy. Once he was secure in the place where he was standing, he looked down again.

"Is this Arthgar?" Aslyan sighed.

"You can bet it is." Neridas said, still laughing.


	11. Prophecy

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* * *

Arthgar was enormous.

After finding the giant ravine, Neridas took Aslyan to a little hidden entrance near that place; a tiny wooden hatch placed beneath the grass and very well camouflaged.

Inside the hatch there was a poorly illuminated room, so Neridas crafted an improvised torch from the supplies he could grab. They got inside, closing the hatch behind them, crossed the room and continued to walk in a very long passageway. It was carved into rock and it had hundreds of stairs leading below.

The time it took them to get down wasn't very long. A few minutes later they were faced with another door that led them to a balcony.

In the moment Neridas opened the doors, Aslyan found himself completely amazed with the view.

Arthgar was built in both sides of an enormous ravine; bigger than Aslyan had thought. Seeing it from the outside only showed a small portion of the entire thing. From the inside, though, he could assure he could see more than a mile away in both directions. Neridas had been right; this was not a village at all.

It began in a waterfall that created a river and crossed the whole ravine from end to end. In every single side and area he could see there were rooms, houses, balconies, stairways and entire houses carved in the walls; some of which were illuminated and some of which were not. To reinforce the walls there were giant columns rising up and reaching dozens of meters high. There were also thin bridges crossing one side to the other, and seeing as there were people walking on them, everything felt very much alive.

The sunlight illuminated half of the ravine, penetrating through the small visible gap in the ceiling.

In front of them, a huge gate closed their path, and they got a soldier's attention once they got close.

"The messenger is here!" The guard yelled an order to open the gates, and both of them crossed the line divided by the door.

The soldier walked down from the vigilance tower and greeted him.

"Veran, it is nice to see you again. What made you come back so soon, did you run into trouble?" The guard approached, but his face changed.

"I am not your messenger, Gael." Said Neridas, greeting him as well, "And I am disappointed you haven't recognized me."

"Wait a second. You are not…?" The guard started to say and was immediately taken over by a surprised look once he stared directly at Neridas' eyes. "I… we…where were you all this time?" He exclaimed and had a friendly hug with him, smiling from ear to ear. "We thought you were dead!"

"Feels good to be back, friend."

"We searched for you; we tried to find you and the group. We assumed you had died!"

"But I am very much alive. Now, I don't have much time to be talking. I have to get inside."

"Yes, yes. Go ahead." He made a gesture that let them pass through.

"Take me to my father. I need to talk to him."

Gael stopped smiling and stood there, watching the ground with a distant look. Neridas only realized this after taking a couple of steps.

"He…" Gael gulped. "Your father…"

Suddenly the situation seemed awkward. It took a long time for Neridas to realize.

"He died, Neridas. The illness overtook him, about two years ago."

Although being very bad news, Neridas just stared distantly. He did not show any kind of evident sadness, he just listened and nodded it as if it was something he had been expecting.

An uncomfortable moment passed, Aslyan did not know how to react.

"Who is in charge now?" Neridas asked, his look still looking distant. Once again, Gael kept his mouth closed as if he did not want to talk about this either.

"You were away all this time. After your father died he left a note, telling who would be the next one in charge. Do you remember Isran?"

Neridas' eyes widened open.

"Isran?! He is the one in charge now?! Was my father out of his mind?" he exploded, approaching Gael and threatening him with a finger.

"You must understand, Neridas. We all thought you had been killed; there was nothing else we could do. Besides, Isran has been a better man."

"A better man?! That man is terrible. He intimidated my father. He manipulated him." It seemed like the idea of Isran being the ruler was unacceptable. The shouting he did was becoming louder and louder, and the soldier was clueless of what to answer.

"I am sorry, Neridas. Many things can change in ten years."

Ten years. The words reverberated, making Neridas change his expression.

"Ten years?"

The guard nodded. Neridas had been imprisoned for an entire decade. That is what made him calm down and stop shouting.

"Take me to someone I trust, if there is anyone."

* * *

"It is unbelievable." Neridas said, and Bron nodded carefully. The guard had taken them to a room near the end of the ravine, a couple of stories high. It was the room of the counselor who, according to Neridas, had also been a really close friend of his father.

Inside the room there was an amazing view to the city. He could see the whole length of the ravine and the height they were made Aslyan shiver.

"I know, Neridas, but try to calm down. You have not been here in many years; perhaps you are not very aware of the situation."

"Does Isran know I am here?"

"Not yet, but sooner or later he will find out…"

"…and he will kick me out of this place." completed Neridas. "He has changed, Neridas. More than you think he has."

"He can't have changed. He was a swindler, a humbug!"

"We also were upset by your father's decision, at first. Then we realized he was different."Bron saw Neridas hands form into fists so he tried to change the subject "And who is the guy that came with you?"

"My name is Aslyan." He stepped in, trying to calm down Neridas. "I came from an expedition from Tamriel; I arrived here less than a month ago."

"Tamriel? By Sovngarde!" Bron seemed to become absolutely amazed. "Are you telling the truth?"

"He is telling the truth, Bron. Why are you acting like this?" Neridas came in.

"I…" he was hesitant to say it, as if it was some kind of secret. "Was your expedition terminated? Was it, somehow, a failure?"

"Yes. We were discovered and attacked by the Tsaescii, and we fled; some to the mountains and some, like me, to the sea. I lost the rest of my crew in a shipwreck. How do you know this?"

He immediately stood up, acting desperate. He quickly turned around to a large book stand in the corner of the room and started searching frenetically for a book. Meanwhile, Aslyan and Neridas looked at each other like he had lost his mind.

"It has to be here. It has to be around somewhere." He searched hysterically, pulling out books and looking at their cover. In the end it looked like he found the thing that he was looking for. "Aha! Here it is." He grabbed it and stood up, Aslyan and Neridas still clueless of his reasons. He leafed through the pages rapidly until he stopped at one in particular. His expression started to show a wide smile. "The prophecy is true! It is true!"

He started to laugh, almost like he was mad, looking at them cheerful of his new discovery.

"What do you mean? What prophecy?" Neridas asked.

"It says here, and I quote…" he took a deep breath before continuing;

"_After the earliest wars were battled and lost_

_After an empire has been raised easternmost_

_When chaos unexpectedly starts to be awaken_

_When ancient stolen lands await to be retaken_

_The crew of a long voyage shall be defeated with a cost_

_A man ought to lead his race to a victory previously forsaken._"

Silence invaded, and Aslyan repeated the words to himself.

"What does it mean?" he asked.

"Don't you realize?"Bron opened his arms, as if the verse had been obvious. "It means that you, Aslyan, have come here to win the battle we have all been waiting for."

Aslyan looked at his companion, struggling to understand the current situation.

"No, no; it cannot be me." He said, trying to shake the idea of him leading an army. "That prophecy can mean an entirely different person."

"Actually, it does make sense, Aslyan. Everything matches; your crew, Akavir, you. You came here to fight. You are the prophecy!"

Oh, no. Not again. He thought he was done with this prediction nonsense. He backed off, trying to scare away the fact that suddenly he had become a really important person to them.

"I will be telling the others." Bron cheered, and Neridas celebrated as well. Aslyan, in the other hand, was not at all pleased.


End file.
